Barry Williams knows that fame is a fickle mistress.

There are two kinds of fading former celebrities: those who grasp, with every ounce of determination left in their formerly well-manicured fingers, to the threads and crumbs of the notoriety of yesterdecade; and those who vanish, Garbo-like, retreating into the gutters and alleyways of stardom, fading in the harsh, unforgiving Hollywood sun of pop culture’s collective short-term memory.

And then there’s Barry Williams.

In our continuing, Quixote-like mission to become your one-stop resource for important Barry Williams updates, we offer another probing look into history’s Most Enduring Brady through this recent Q&A from the Barry Williams Web site:

From sck869@aol.com:
Barry, The Brady Bunch and Gilligan’s Island are still my 2 favorite shows. Since Sherwood Produced both, did you have the chance to meet all of the castaways? Any recollections you care to share? Thanks!
Barry Williams:
Yes, I have met all of the castaways with the exception of Natalie Schaffer. Jim Backus was of course a guest on one of The Brady Bunch Grand Canyon episodes. I can’t confirm it just yet but I am in dialogue with Sherwood and Lloyd Schwartz about doing a production of GILLIAGAN’S ISLAND the MUSICAL starring Dawn Wells and Barry Williams as Mr. & Mrs. Howell early next year in Florida. More on that later. Thanks for writing.

Now at first this may seem like a casual reference to an exciting new Barry Williams project, but in fact it’s something much more complex, sophisticated and ingenious.

While other celebrities may be content to sustain their image in perpetuity, regardless of how outrageously wrong it sadly becomes to everyone else, Barry Williams is making a tactical decision to leverage his fame in such a way that he not only sustains his own well-traveled brand, but also eclipses and eventually consumes the trademark character of another beloved celebrity. And a dead one at that.

Because make no mistake about it: once Barry Williams trods the boards as Thurston Howell III, no one – no one – is ever going to remember the theatrical contributions of Jim Backus.

Advantage: Barry Williams.